THE issue of new homes being built on the site of South Ockendon United Reformed Chapel will not go away or be swept under the carpet.

First of all I would expect the agreed planning application to be called in for investigation after the planning meeting farce!

Also, councillors need to be honest and up front with the community in Ockendon. They seem to have got complacent, but they shouldn’t be fooled. Voters remember!

It may well be that the majority of the planning committee was concerned about how the exhumation of the bodies would be carried out, however it did not take much to pass the application for the build.

There should have been a majority vote to reject this application on that score alone.

That ground is holy ground and there is nothing you could say to make it any different.

Councillors are elected by the communities they serve and reside in and are collectively responsible to listen to and find out from the communities what their feelings and answers would be.

It is now time for councillors to wake up and listen to their communities, start being foot soldiers and put the real issues on the table.

Stop trying to score brownie point against other parties. Get real or get out!

I urge councillors to call this planning application in and investigate why was it kept low key this time around, as opposed to four years ago.

CHRIS SAVILL Mayflower Close, South Ockendon.